Guiding apparatus for automobile-lamps.



G. L. BERG. GUIDING APPARATUS FOR AUTOMOBILE LAMPS.

APPLICATION IILETI JAN.22,1912.

Patented Feb. 18, 1913.

8 M f m l 0, J.

UNITED sTATEsjATEN OFFICE.

"sconce L. BERG, or SEATTLE, wasnmeron.

GUIDING APPARATUS 1 01i.A'IIJ'TOIMIOBILE-LAllL'CPS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEoRon 'L. BERG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of lVashington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Guiding Apparatus for Automobile-Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for mounting lamps or headlights of automobiles and other vehicles.

A fertile source of accidents resides in the practice of rigidly mounting the headlights of a car upon the car-body in such a manner that their light illuminates only a path in the direction of the axis of the car and tan-- gent to the course being pursued 'by the steering wheels.

lZIVG View of apparatus embodying my in- Particularly in, cars having a long chassis the deviation of the light from the true direction in which the car is moving is considerable and is objectionable as not serving as an eflicient light to guide the person steering the car and is apt to confuse the steerer of an adjacent car as to the course.- to be taken to avoid an accident.

The object of my invention is the provision of improved means to automatically adjust the headlamps of a car to illumine the curved path in which the steering wheels are guiding the vehicle when turning a corner or deviating from a line parallel with the axis of the car-body.

A further advantage residing in my ar-- rangement of the lamps of a car is that the lamps at all times indicate the direction in which the steering wheels are positioned and when said wheels are out of sight of the steerer, as behind mud-guards or obscured through the. structure of the car-body it is very necessary to thus indicatetheir position.

A still further advantage of my improvement consists in enabling the head-light to be thrown upon an object at one side of the road, as a sign-board, by simply turning the front wheels of the car.

The invention consists in the novel c011- struction, adaptation and combinationmf parts, as will be hereinafter fully described in the following specification, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and finally set forth in the appended claim.

; In said drawings, Figure l is a perspec- Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed January-22, 1912. Serial No. 672,631.

beam of light projected by the- Patented Feb. is, 1,913..

vent-ion shown in operative position upon'a car. Fig. 2 1s a plan view of the same. F 1g. is a cross-sectional-view through 33'v of Fig. 2.

Referring to said drawingathe reference I numeral 1 designates a 'pair o-f head-light lamps which may be mounted'upon a rela- -tively fixed portion of the car-body or chassis.. As s own, a plate .2 is rigidly secured to a longitudinal frame-member 3 of the car and includes integrally a vertically arranged barrel 4 in; whichthespindle 5 of the respective; lamp is journaled. The lower end of each said spindle .isrigidly connected with a lever 6 which is hingedly connected in parallel relation at itsopposite end to a'tie-rod 7 adapted-to influence both said lamps iii-unison.

The front wheels8 are steered in unison through tie-bar 9 which'is connected at its opposite ends to steering arms 10 which are rigidly connected to the steering heads 11. Control by the operator of said steering de vices is had ina suitablemanner, as through lever 12 operatively connected With'the 1 steering wheel and connecting bar'13 vsecured to said-tie-bar 9. eratively sponding lateral movements to tie-rod. 7.

The tie-bar is provided with a forwardly protruding branch 14 while the tie-rod 7 is formed with a rearwardly' projecting lug 15; said branch and lug being pbsitioned desirably upon opposite sides'of the longitudinal axis of the car and terminating in proximity of a line parallel to the transverse. aXis of the car. Said branch 14 is formed with Said t e-bar 9, is opconnected to communicate correan upward curvature that raises its forward end approximately in a. plane horizontal with the rear extremity-of lug 15/ A connecting rod 16 connects the respective forward and rear ends of said branch and lug by duplex pivotal joints 1?, 18. at its opposite, ends. Such joints'extend to maintain said rod in practically parallelrelation to the minor or transverse axis of the car and accommodate any relative vertical or longitudinal movement betweensaidbranch and= lug. As indicated, rod 16 is arranged substantially horizontal and is desirably of sufficient length upon opposite sides of' the majoraxis of the car to render such relative vertical. or horizontal movements between its ends of small moment.

The operation of the device is believed to be clearly evident from the foregoing. It

body of the car will have no effect upon the operative relations of said parallel members.

All lateral motion of the wheels as colnmuilicated by the steering-gear or otherwise, coincidentally affects the lamps through said means. The horizontal axis of said lamps will thus be parallel to the direction in which said wheels are positioned, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and therefore also parallel to the course in which the rehicle is proceedin As the lamps more pivotailly about their vertical axes and are maintained in parallel with said wheels no danger is experienced of their interfering even in their most extreme positions. To facilitate the added function with which the lamps are en- (lowed that is to say, as an indicator of the direction in which the wheels arc-turned and which is in View when the wheels-are notvisible, by reason of being hid from observation from the automobile seat by reason of the mud guards or other parts of the aumesses allel with the longitiidinal axis of the automobile. 1

7 While I havedescribed the illustrated embodiment of my invention with some detail, it is evident that various modifications may be made within the scope of-the claim-With out departing from the spirit of the invention. or sacrificing its advantages. I

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters- Patent, is-

In a device "of the class described, the com bination with the steering wheels of an au tomobile, and a connecting tie bar therefor, said tie barv having a forwardly-projecting upwardly curved branch, of a pair of lamps pivotally-mounted upon the car, a tie rod in parallel relation with said tie bar positioned thereabove and connecting said lamps to more in unison and having a rearwardlyprojecting lug, said branch and lug being upon opposite sides of the longitudinal axis of the car, two duplex pivotal joints, one of said joints connected to the free'end of said lug and the other joint connected to the free end of said branch, and a rod operatively connected at its opposite ends to the extremities of said pivotal joints substantially parallel with said tie bar and tie rod.

Signed at Seattle, Wash, this 12th day of Jain, 1912.

(lrEURGrE L. BERG.

Witnesses Horace Barnes, PETERSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the commissioner of Eatentaj Weshington, D. C. 

